Guys, what is the purpose statement of XDA Developers? I am asking that because I figure that the purpose should be within the lines of providing end users most enjoyable smart phone, technology, gadget experience, keeping the users up-to-date about news and developments in the same arena, etc etc...

I am a Sony Xperia user and, sadly, due to the fact that we live in the United States, we are banned from using some of this end product. This product is Cyanogenmod, that is being developed by an "FXP" team that purposely chose a media sharing website that blocks IPs from the US. I did nothing to be a part of this political debacle but I can't enjoy Cyanogenmod anymore. We are also banned from mirroring this end product, is this something XDA or CM would approve?

Some of you might see me as moaning about the issue but I don't know where to go, how to ask for help because I should not be banned from using Cyanogenmod just because some development team has a political agenda. I would like to hear opinions and advice ...

As I recall, the ONLY rule of CyanogenMod is Don't ask for ETA's, not "don't ask for working download links", not "don't mirror files". We should not be forced to download through any other means than a working link. we should not have to download 3rd party software that we do not want in order to use the product.

What is the official tie between CM and FXP? Right now I am not able to use CM due to FXP, what does CM have to say about it? Do they know that FXP is banning the US users? (Technically, FXP is banning US users by uploading the product on a website that bans US IPs)

That may just be a team producing a version of the CM rom. Have you checked the CM site and see if a version of the rom is there?

I haven't yet, I browsed around CM forums for different things before, but I will register there and try to find out. From what I understand at the Xperia arc forums, FXP is the team that does serve Xperia series phones with CM work. There are of course different devs that use the CM or Sony ROMs as a base for their own work, but FXP is the one that ports the CM for Xperias, I could be wrong, I will find out.

If a dev requests that no mirrors should be posted, then they're within their rights to do so, as far as XDA is concerned

So technically it would be against XDA rules to post a mirror? I just don't want to cross the line with XDA, and frankly I don't give a hoot what FXP thinks. I have seen so many users just complaining and complaining about not being able to download. I can grab the ROMs whatnot from friends overseas, but I also want to help those who can't. So I would assume a private mirror should not be a violation of XDA rules.

No-one's stopping you from getting ahold of the source code compiling it yourself.

But even if you did, the only reason CyanogenMod ROMs are a reality for the 2011 Xperia range is because of the work of the FreeXperia team, so you'd still owe them thanks.

I am not trying to start a debate here or I am trying to be a smartass. I know very well that FXP's work is not the only one I can use with my phones. If I could compile a ROM myself, then I would not have started this thread, so your point is moot. I am just concerned about a ton of users being blocked from using Cyanogenmod, something that doesn't belong to FXP if I understood correctly, for what reason? And I am basically trying to find out how to get around this nonsensical limitation imposed on us without bugging XDA. Anyone would agree that a smart phone user would need XDA in general more than any specific dev team.

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